Orest watched the battle with a mix of frustration and disbelief. The pilots of Raptor's division must have been green troops for them to be getting thwarted so handily, their numerical advantage now diminished, and two of their ships had been damaged. He was about to order his people into the fight when the carrier finally appeared, not at the head of the smoke path, but emerging somewhere in the middle, as if she'd been trying to come in behind Raptor.
Clever, very clever. He needed to reconsider his assessment of the carrier's captain. He'd used the long smoke trail as a ruse and bided his time, hoping his mobile suits could inflict sufficient damage on the cruisers to give them a better chance.
"What do we do?" Faith asked.
Orest set his jaw and tightened his grip on the control yokes. "We attack. We can't sit here any longer and watch ourselves steal defeat from the jaws of victory."
He switched his comm to all his forces. "We're going in to attack. Hit the carrier and draw the enemy mobile suits from the cruisers."
As acknowledgements came back, he accelerated towards the ship, having to pull back slightly to avoid outrunning his kaaslan.
"Try not to let that thing's speed get you in trouble faster," Chastity cautioned.
"I'll do my best."
He winced as the carrier opened fire. They could just barely see it from their line of sight just above the smoke cloud, but they could see well enough what happened next.
Raptor took two big hits to her starboard engine hull, blasting a large chunk out of the ship. A third shot, probably from the carrier's aft turret, hit the cruiser's nose. But Raptor was an experienced ship and responded quickly, even as she manoeuvred to bring her guns to bear, she fired her two torpedoes and her forward launchers spat a score of missiles.
The range between the ships was so short that the carrier's point defence barely had time to engage the missiles before they struck the ship, cratering its armour and blasting holes into the large hangar sections on the starboard side. But their own crew must have had some experience as well because they prioritized the torpedoes, shooting them down just before they hit.
Orest saw three of the captured Zakus flying towards Raptor, ducking through her point defence and flying towards her bow. He was too far to see exactly what they did but the results didn't make it hard to guess.
The mobile suits all but touched the cruisers hull and then seconds later Raptor's launchers began exploding. They must have thrown grenades into the launch tubes. The launchers themselves would have had their armoured doors closed, but it was likely they were warped or the exits blocked, making it too dangerous to risk firing them. They soon did the same on the port side.
The carrier fired again, this time hitting the already damaged Rhino at the rear of the formation, again hitting the starboard engine hull. Why? Was the carrier hoping to outrun them? Even if the cruisers lost all their engines right now, they could gun down the carrier well before it got out of range.
Whatever the case, Rhino showed that, while wounded, she was far from out of the fight, by firing her port torpedo and, despite heavy damage to the area, her foremost particle cannon as well.
At such close ranges and against such a large ship, Rhino could hardly miss. The twin emerald beams slashed at the carrier port hull, carving deep rents into both hangars and a small secondary explosion followed, probably fuel or leftover munitions.
The torpedo was intercepted by the point defence as they had nothing left to occupy themselves. That was about to change.
"Attack the carrier but keep out of the other ship's firing solutions. Aim for the main guns. Let's take the hooks out of this thing!"
Orest charged ahead. All he had was his machine gun and his heat hawk, but it would be enough for this fight.
The carrier fired up at them. Orest wanted to duck behind the ship but from the looks of its engines the thrust wash would probably damage his suit.
Why are they still powering through like that? Do they think they can swing by the cruisers? But the carrier was pointed almost directly at the moon and it would lose a lot of momentum trying to alter course and avoid falling through the gravity threshold. If it failed, the ship was doomed.
Orest fired his gun, tracing a line up the ship's back, popping a few storage containers on the dorsal surface. His kaaslan did likewise, easily evading fire as they hit the ship's vulnerable areas. And while the gunners were focused on them, it allowed the four Zaku Is to get in closer.
The four of them opened fire on the aft ventral particle turret. It was more well armoured than expected but the concentrated fire soon rewarded them with a small explosion that burst out the holes they had created.
The defence gunners responded quickly and managed to damage one of the Zaku Is but not before they knocked out one of the defence turrets in turn.
"Keep alert," Orest said as he swung in again. "They're bound to be calling for help." He looked back at Raptor and the three mobile suits that had been attacking it. Sure enough, they ceased their attack and began moving in their direction.
Orest glanced at the larger furball. The remaining Zakus had actually managed to stay alive. Perhaps the enemy suits were running low on ammunition. But he did notice that the other two captured Zakus were now headed in their direction as well, giving them five total to deal with.
"Leave the carrier to the cruisers for now," he ordered. "Let's see what these mobile suit thieves are really made of."
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Rauld hissed through his teeth as he dodged a burst from the opposing Zaku's machine gun. He was glad Hypori had given them tips on how to make the most of their Balls against the Zaku.
Now that their squadron had managed to catch up to Rancher's Blue Team, most of the mobile suits were focused on attacking the cruiser. As one fired rockets into the ship's port engines, two of the others attacked the main guns and missile launchers, leaving two mobile suits and eleven Balls against six enemy Zakus.
Rauld winced as Rosser's Ball was hit directly, a four shot burst, tearing her and the machine to rapidly spreading fragments. It tried to follow up by taking out Farro as well, but 2Lt. Stopper of Blue Team charged the Zaku, forcing it onto the defensive. However, the Zaku's partner came in to assist.
The second Zaku fired on the GM but Rauld wasn't about to let them go it alone.
"Move in. Back them up!"
He, Sunni, and Biter moved forward. Rauld fired at long range, not expecting to hit, but he wanted to try and distract them.
The first Zaku put itself between Stopper and the three of them, firing.
"Keep closing. They can't afford to keep their distance if they want to back up their buddy."
Biter fired next, forcing the Zaku to dodge out of the way, giving them an opening.
"Biter, help Stopper, we'll hold off this one."
Biter didn't respond but he must have heard as he charged towards the two duelling mobile suits.
Rauld focused on the mobile suit in front of them. It pressed forward, firing a few shots at each of them to try and separate them.
Rauld fired but missed again as the Zaku dodged to the right, trying to circle around them, and they were too slow to keep themselves between it and its companion.
"Sunni, try make them keep their distance. We have to keep ourselves in the way."
Sunni fired her twin cannons but the Zaku evaded and began moving in a tighter circle around them, all but ignoring the two Balls and firing on Stopper.
"Cut across," Rauld ordered, trying to think of something they could do to intercept the mobile suit and back up their comrades. This Zaku wasn't taking them seriously as a threat.
As they moved to cut the Zaku off, Biter abruptly switched from the second Zaku to the first, cutting across its path charging directly at it.
The Zaku fired on him. Biter dodged the shot but not completely. One shell slapped into his cannon, tearing it from the top of the Ball but Biter kept charging.
"Biter, you've lost your gun!" Rauld called. "Break off!"
The second Zaku attacked Stopper, forcing him back and trying to prevent him from assisting Biter.
"Biter, break off!" Rauld repeated frantically.
Biter's reply was a cry of fury, hatred, and pain, screaming as he charged his machine directly at the Zaku.
The Zaku fired another shot but it missed. They could have easily flown away from Biter, but instead, it brought up its leg and kicked his Ball, crumpling it and sending it flying toward Stopper.
Stopper didn't see it coming. The ruined Ball smashed into the side of his mobile suit, stunning him. The attacking Zaku took advantage, bringing up their heat hawk and slashed it down through the GM's shoulder through to the chest. But the Zaku had forgotten about Rauld and Sunni.
Sunni fired her cannons into the Zaku's back, ruining its thruster backpack, and igniting the propellant. It's back exploded and it let go of Stopper's machine. Rauld fired at it while it was stunned, this time connecting directly, and the machine exploded.
Stopper's disabled GM floated away, carried by the blast. Rauld was about to order Sunni to try and retrieve it when the other Zaku finished it off with a long burst of machine gun fire, tearing the machine to pieces and sending what remained hurtling towards Scylla's surface. Then, it turned to them.
Rauld gulped, wondering if he was about to die when a blade of brilliant pink light burst through the Zaku's chest. It was only then that Rauld noticed Major Rancher's machine behind it.
She swiped the glowing blade upwards, slicing up through the Zaku's head, before she kicked the machine aside. Her machine was missing its left arm.
"You two have wandered off," she said. "We have to get back to the fight. Move it!"
"Y-yes, Ma'am," Rauld stammered.
Rancher flew back towards where the others were fighting the remaining three mobile suits. There were fewer balls than there had been before, but all the mobile suits were still alive.
Rauld admired how cool and calm she was after having just lost one of her people, focused on the mission.
"Let's go," he said.
"What about Biter?"
Rauld looked at where the remains of Biter's machine floated, looking more like a crumpled piece of paper than a spacecraft, the cockpit was completely crushed and virtually indistinguishable from the rest.
"He's gone," he said, shivering as the emotion of losing yet another subordinate swept through him. "Come on, we have our orders."
He never would have imagined having orders would ever be a comfort, but he wasn't going to question it now. He flew after Major Rancher, Sunni close behind. They still had a job to do.
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"What the heck is that?" Hypori exclaimed.
Her indicator pointed to one of the mobile suits that had been attacking Audacity. It was coloured green with gold trim, as were it's two consorts, but unlike the other Zakus, it had a horn on its head.
"Commander antenna," Dirk said. "Seen it on older Zakus."
"You think this is an ace?" Sahna asked.
"Yes. You take her."
She grunted. "You guys always leave the easy jobs to me, huh?"
"Look out!"
Hypori's cry came as the horned mobile suit surged towards them at impossible speed. Sahna slid aside, moving her limbs to maximize her manoeuvring, and even with all that, the stream of shells from their opponent just barely missed her.
"It's fast!"
The other two mobile suits came at her, but Hypori and Dirk forced them to break off.
"Behind!"
Sahna flipped backwards, Hypori dodged to the side and Dirk dropped as the horned Zaku came at them again. This time it went for Dirk, firing as they slashed past, shattering Dirk's left arm. The other two then tried to go for Hypori but she just barely managed to evade them before Sahna and Dirk forced them away, but this time they didn't stay away, they came at them again and again, refusing to go too far, and no matter what they did, they couldn't hit them.
"These are a lot more manoeuvrable than ours," Sahna said. "Are they a new model?"
"Above!"
Again, the three of them were forced to evade as the horned one came back. This time, Sahna was the target.
Sahna, instead of dodging, interposed her shoulder shield against the attack, bullets sparked off, then at the last second, the horned Zaku flipped around to go feet first and slammed it's foot into her shoulder shield, knocking her aside and spinning.
Sahna knew what was about to happen. Hypori and Dirk would force the horned one to break off, leaving its two consorts to attack her and finish her off. She couldn't let that happen, not here, not now. Besides, she'd hit enough asteroids by now she'd gotten good at recovering from sudden hits like that.
She ignited her foot thrusters on full power, overriding the control systems and sending her mobile suit into a furious series of short loops that crushed her into her seat, but it did the trick, throwing off her enemy's aim enough for Dirk to attack them from behind and force them to break off long enough for her to recover.
"Here comes their backup," Hypori said, an uncharacteristic weariness in her voice. A force of three Zaku Is was almost upon them. They'd been hanging back to let their commander have at them for a bit and wear them down.
Sahna felt a chill as fear dug its frigid talons into her shoulders. They'd barely been hanging on as it was. They couldn't hold off against these aces and three other mobile suits.
"What are you doing?" Marie's demanding voice yanked Sahna from her frantic attempts to problem solve.
"What?"
The flash of a large shell streaked past Sahna's left shoulder and nearly impacted the horned mobile suit as it prepared another strike, forcing it to abort.
Marie and Callie had appeared. Callie had ditched her rocket launcher and was now armed with a standard Zaku machine gun she had probably appropriated from among the ones they'd taken out. Marie still carried her cannon. Sahna was amazed she still had ammunition for it after all this time.
"I thought you were White Devils. Is this how White Devils fight? Cowering like this? You heard our commander; maximum aggression. Tog, you come with me to deal with those older Zakus. Everyone else, go after the commander. Don't fight the bodyguards, focus on him. Scar, hand me your extra."
"Him?" Hypori asked as Sahna tossed Marie one of her two machine guns. She was needing to reload anyway.
"No time for explanation! Attack!"
Callie didn't stop, she just flew past the three bewildered rookies right at the trio of enemy aces. Sahna and Hypori gave chase. The fear was ebbing again. Their commander was here, and now she felt like they still had a chance.
As they charged, the lead enemy cruiser fired a full broadside into Audacity's flank. Sahna grimaced as the secondary bridge was melted away and the other two shots slagged their former hangar, already badly holed with missile impacts. Worse, the ships that had been chasing them from Knossos were now in firing positions and they managed to hit the ship's engine block, slagging some of the engines and threatening the reactor.
Sahna hoped that everyone else was making good their escape, because the carrier wouldn't last much longer.
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Rauld saw the convoy of shuttles and lifeboats gradually emerging from the far end of the tail of smoke stretching out from the greater cloud. The Marine's assault shuttles were in the lead, the smoke dispensers attached to their hulls finally depleted after creating a screen for the lifeboats trailing behind them.
It had worked. They'd managed to keep the enemy from noticing the otherwise obvious extrusion of the cloud thanks to Audacity's charge, the efforts of the mobile suits, and the 52nd.
Of course, the enemy might still catch them if they went after them now. The three blocking cruisers had manoeuvred such to position themselves against the carrier, but the two chasing cruisers and their mobile suits might still intercept them.
The last couple of defending Zakus they had been fighting retreated behind the protective shell of their cruisers' defensive fire. While Major Rancher's mobile suits could probably still take them, many of them were damaged from trying to neutralize the cruisers' main guns. Their efforts were the only reason the carrier was still fighting.
As Rauld was wondering what they should do, Major Rancher's voice came over the comm.
"Lieutenant Sealer, fall back to defend the evacuees until they reach the gravity threshold. We'll keep you covered."
"Yes, Ma'am."
Sealer sounded relieved. Honestly, Rauld didn't want to stick around either. Enemy reinforcements might arrive and their carrier wasn't going to keep the enemy busy much longer.
As they headed away from the fight, Rauld saw Red Team fighting with the other group of mobile suits. He couldn't see much more than the flares of thrusters and lines of tracer fire against the black and the smoke, but clearly a vicious fight was taking place. He only hoped that Hypori, the girl who'd always been so kind to him, would survive it.
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Varmos grimaced as the ship took another hit. He was amazed she was still fighting. Her hull and bulkheads groaned, deck plates rattled and buckled, but she was still under control.
She had rolled to present her ventral guns to the cruiser that had mauled them with its full broadside and returned fire.
Varmos allowed himself a feeling of satisfaction as the guns struck the cruiser, knocked out one of its turrets and bit into the starboard engine hull again, triggering large secondary explosions as they hit the fuel storage.
"Sir," Lt. Tyrian reported. "I have the evacuees on sensors. I can just barely see them, but they're there. Looks like they're on schedule and accelerating towards Scylla. I don't think they enemy could catch them at this point."
"Those cruisers behind us might," Hurlur pointed out. They're unhurt, and there's the mobile suits too."
"I can't see what all the mobile suits are doing," Tyrian argued. "They're moving around so much and so close together that it's impossible to tell what's going on or who's where, but I can see some of our forces moving towards the evacuees."
"Understood." Varmos weighed his options. His ship had held together better than he could have imagined, and in spite of the battering she'd already taken, she was still hitting back. They were so close to accomplishing their goal, he had to make sure it worked.
"Tactical, focus fire on the cruisers behind us. Try and keep their attention. Navigation, how long?"
"Just sixty seconds until we cross the threshold, Sir."
Varmos grimaced and braced himself for what might be the longest minute of his life. Hold together, he pleaded silently. Please, just hold together.
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Orest ducked a under burst of gunfure, grunting as he was forced to accelerate away again. His kaaslan came to his aid, trying to force the enemy off of him but their opponents refused to be dissuaded easily.
They had almost gotten the better of their opponents until the other two Zakus appeared, and suddenly the three they had already been fighting changed their tactics, and became savagely aggressive. Three of them persisted after him, clearly realizing he was the commander, and working together to keep him on the defensive.
Orest could stay away from them easily thanks to his greater performance, but he had to keep staying away. Any time he tried to counter attack, the three of them ganged up on him, closing any openings he might have exploited, and while his kaaslan's mobile suits were more manoeuvrable than the standard Zaku, they weren't appreciably faster.
Unable to overcome, Orest decided to use it to his advantage and pull them away from the support of their fellows and down towards the moon. There, he might be able to take advantage of their over aggression and get them to overshoot.
One of his subordinates reported. "Sir, we've lost Defender Two and the two enemy Zakus have broken off and are heading back for you."
Orest grunted, and saw the two enemy units that had been occupying his Zaku Is were coming his way, no doubt to support their comrades. He would have to deal with this fight soon, and now that they were this close to the moon, he and his kaaslan could use it to their advantage.
"Faith, Chastity, let's pin them against the moon and grind them down."
"Understood," they chorused.
Defender Leader called back, "Sir! There's a large number of enemy craft headed away from us, towards enemy lines!"
"What?"
Orest accelerated away to buy himself enough of a respite to check his sensors. Sure enough, a large number of enemy craft, lifeboats and shuttles from the look of them, were headed away at an oblique angle towards the moon. What's more, the Federation's combat pods and mobile suits were headed in that direction as well.
"If you're unoccupied, inform Shipmaster Ferozi."
"Yes, Sir!"
Orest refocused on the enemy around him, dodging another quick burst from one of the black and white Zakus. Then a trio of lights glowed in his right view screen.
"Signal flares?"
"From the carrier," Chastity reported. "They've… yes, they've fallen below the threshold! They're falling!"
Orest stared at the ship in disbelief. It wasn't obvious yet, but the ship was falling as Scylla's gravity gripped the ship in its suckers. In spite of that, the ship was still fighting, still firing its dorsal guns in defiance back at the cruisers. Ferozi's ships fired back, but she had been keeping her ships at a distance, and the sudden drop of the ship from gravity caused them to miss.
Faith reported, "the enemy's mobile suits are withdrawing."
"Not these ones," Chastity grunted. "And the two coming at us from the Defenders are still coming."
Orest manipulated the comm controls in his helmet with his tentacles, switching to a common frequency with Raptor's mobile suits.
"All mobile suits, assist us in destroying the enemy Zakus. Let the other ones go."
He glanced at his sensor monitor, saw the marks indicating friendly and hostile mobile suits all coalescing into a single group around him. More of them were friendly than hostile.
And now we finish this. He couldn't stop the enemy from getting away, but he could at least eliminate those using their own mobile suits against them. They had lost a great deal this day, and he was going to claw back everything he could.
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They all noticed Audacity's signal flare, saw Major Rancher disengage, but getting out of the fight was going to be rather difficult for Red Team.
Sahna dodged another attack from one of the bodyguard suits and returned fire. They had used their superior performance to put themselves between open space and Scylla. Such was the consequence of desperately trying to occupy the enemy's attention.
"Red Team, do you need assistance?" Rancher called.
"Go on without us Ma'am," Marie replied. She and Dirk were between the trio blocking Sahna, Hypori, and Callie, and the mobile suits remaining from fighting Blue Team. They were starting to surround them, forcing them against the moon.
"You can't keep fighting forever," Rancher argued.
"We aren't, we're taking the ship's way out."
Sahna could see the ship out the corner of her eye as it began to fall. A few lifeboats were ejecting from its ravaged hull, possibly the engineering crew or gunners.
"Do you have enough propellant left?"
"We'll see. I'm not abandoning the rest of my team and there's no other way out. Wish us luck."
There was a pause before Rancher responded. "Burn them."
Sahna saw Blue Team leave the battle area, chased by particle cannon beams from the cruisers.
"Heads up!" Hypori called as the three green Zakus attacked them simultaneously.
Sahna met the attack of the bodyguard mobile suit. She held her fire, knowing she couldn't hurt the more manoeuvrable machine anyway. Suddenly it jerked to the side and attacked Callie, pulling a similar move Sahna had done with Dirk earlier. It switched positions with with the horned Zaku, which drew its heat hawk, going for a kill strike.
Sahna's mind had little time to react. She had no time to bring up her own heat hawk, and the angle meant she wouldn't be able to bring up her gun in time. The other mobile suit was so much faster she couldn't get away so… she moved towards it instead.
In the half-second available to her, Sahna accelerated towards the enemy commander, slamming her right shoulder into the suit, messing up the swing of it's heat hawk, and leaving it stunned.
Sahna reached up and grabbed the the horned antenna on top of the mobile suit and tried to position herself to fire into its torso, but it tore itself away, kicked her, and both bodyguard machines abruptly abandoned their own targets and attacked her.
Sahna had no choice but to accelerate away as fast as she could, barely avoiding the bullets coming for her. Marie and Dirk finally arrived and attacked them from behind, but the bodyguards spun out of the way like a pair of dancers.
"Fall back!" Marie ordered. "We're going to Scylla."
"You want us to fall?" Hypori asked incredulously.
"No arguments, go!"
Marie and Dirk flashed passed and Hypori and Callie followed. Sahna was already perilously close to the gravity threshold so didn't have far to go.
She felt the slight trembling as she crossed the line where the aether and Scylla's gravity reached equilibrium, and she silenced her computer's warnings telling her what she already knew. She was falling.
Above her she watched their enemy seem to climb away. They weren't pursuing. Maybe they didn't want to risk the chance they wouldn't be able to fly out of Scylla's grasp. Not even the cruisers took potshots in their direction.
"What's that you got?" Hypori asked.
"Huh?" Sahna looked at her mobile suit's hands, one held her nearly empty machine gun, the other… the antenna from the Zaku commander.
"Nice souvenir," Dirk observed.
"I guess. Didn't realize I had it." Sahna wriggled in her seat, hating the feeling of her flightsuit sticking to her back. She'd probably expended a lot of ink during that fight. She felt warm but grateful she could catch her breath.
Hypori said, "So, about getting down, do you think we have enough propellant for this?"
"One way to find out, Ensign. Everyone, prepare for landing."
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Orest watched their enemies go, his emotions a mix of frustration and admiration for their foe. They had gotten away, not unscathed, but away. There was a chance their comrades on the ground might get them but he wasn't holding out hope for that.
"Are you alright?" Chastity asked.
"Fine," he grumbled, the indicator on his screen flashed, telling him of a problem with his main antenna, as if mocking what had happened.
He had hoped to recoup some of the losses form Knossos, but the enemy seemed to have come out ahead in this fight as well.
The other mobile suits had also gotten away, though they'd managed to take out two of them. They would be heading for friendly lines while the lifeboats the carrier had disgorged passed the gravity threshold. They would likely land near Federation lines, relatively safe.
Orest realized that had been the Captain's plan all along. He hadn't been trying to save his ship, he'd been trying to save his crew. He'd launched the escape craft whilst hidden in smoke, masking his intentions, then he'd come out of smoke early, making it look like he was desperately trying to outfight them. They had all acted too passively and played into his hands.
We've gotten too accustomed to dictating the pace of battle. If we'd been more aggressive we would have won this.
"Be on your guard. Keep an eye out for any more surprises as we search for survivors." Orest really didn't want any more surprises today.
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Varmos held on for dear life as the ship plummeted towards the moon. Daxter fought with the controls as he attempted to make some semblance of a crash landing in a ship that had never been designed to land on anything.
The engineering displays bombarded them with a deluge of warnings as the helmsman pushed the engines as far as they would go in an attempt to reduce their descent but any attempt at changing their heading was little more than a suggestion.
Audacity groaned loudly as her weakened hull took the strain of trying to fight against gravity. Varmos heard loud pops and metallic cracks as her structural members tore and broke.
He couldn't see anything but sky as Daxter pitched the ship up as high as he dared. The ship's angle of descent on the navigation screen reduced considerably but it was still far too steep. Varmos dearly hoped that the ventral gun crews especially had been able to get to their lifeboats.
Assuming any are still attached to the ship, he thought grimly.
There was a violent jerk and the ship suddenly pitched forward. Daxter abruptly cut the engines and tried to pitch up to stop their forward tumble, but the ship responded slowly. As the lunar surface came into view, so did a ridge directly ahead of them.
Audacity struck the top of the ridge like a meteor, carving a deep gouge in its otherwise unspoiled crest. The ship did a kind of bounce when it hit, taking them just over the ridge on the other side of the valley and towards an area with lower foothills and slopes.
Varmos didn't dare speak lest he accidentally bite his tongue but he didn't need to. Daxter knew his business and the rest of them could do nothing but hold on and pray.
Daxter finally hit the retro thrusters, forcing everyone forward as the ship fought to try and slow down before the inevitable final impact with the moon. She slammed into Scyllia's surface, carving a deep gouge that kicked up a massive spray of moon and rock before she bounced up and finally came down again, destroying a small hill in front of her.
Varmos could hear pieces of the ship being torn off as she carved her way through the ground until, finally, she came to a stop.
Varmos sat very still for several seconds, waiting for his body to tell him if something broke, but other than a pounding in his head and a roaring in his otoliths, he experienced nothing but the sudden, unbelievable stillness around them.
Cautiously, he sat up and looked around, trying to ignore the sudden pain in his neck.
Daxter groaned and flexed his shoulders before unfastening his harness. He struggled to get out of his seat until he remembered they were under gravity now.
"Status?" Varmos asked.
Ensign Villni answered first. "Looks like we still have short-range comms, Sir. I might be able to send a message out if we have to."
"Hold that thought until we figure out where we are. Navigation?"
Hurler was slumped in her seat, not moving. Daxter went to her side and checked the biometrics monitor on her suit.
"She's unconscious, Sir."
Varmos undid his restraints and had to hop out of his seat to get out of it. The command chair had never been designed with gravity in mind either.
He helped Daxter lift Hurler out of the navigation seat then he took the position himself.
"Were you a navigator, Sir?" Villni asked.
"On shuttles back when I was your age, Ensign. They had me ferrying VIPs around the system, hoping I'd either stay out of trouble or get kicked out."
The joke seemed to have its desired effect, lowing the tension in the room somewhat.
"Looks like we're about four point five kilometers from a Lunar Army outpost. See if you can contact them, Ensign. They should be within range."
"I'll try, Sir."
Varmos left the navigation station and looked at Tyrian, who was furiously operating his console. Frankly, it was a miracle they were all still working.
"Sensors?"
"I'm having to reset them, Sir, but we should have some."
"Good. If there are any enemy forces around I want to know."
He returned to his seat and triggered the intercom, hoping it was working too. "Bridge to Tactical." He waited. There was no response. "Bridge to Tactical?" Another long pause and then, finally, there was a response.
"Tactical here, Bridge," Clutchguard's voice said wearily. "Everything okay up there?"
"As okay as we can reasonably be. How is everything down there? Casualties?"
"Three dead and two unconscious, Sir. I do have a lot of gunner's at their stations still so I haven't been able to check on them."
"They didn't evacuate?"
"Nothing to evacuate to, Sir. Their lifeboats were slagged by those cruisers. All they could do was ride the ship down and pray."
Varmos felt a lump in his throat. "The ventral gunners?"
Another pause. "I don't know, Sir. I know some of them tried to make it out but –." He cut himself off, even as a warning sounded from the sensor console.
"Sensors are working, Sir," he said dread permeating his voice. "We have enemy mobile suits advancing on our position."
Varmos set his jaw and went over to the sensor station. Sure enough, red blobs were moving on the screen. There were a lot of gaps in the readings either from missing sensors or the terrain, but it was clear they were coming for them.
Varmos nearly jumped when he felt the ship vibrate. A second later, one of the red blobs on the sensor screen shrank.
He hurried back to his chair. "Tactical, are we shooting?"
"Aye, Sir. Looks like some of our gunners are still alive and kicking, and so are some of our guns."
Not wanting to look a miracle in the mouth, Varmos nodded to himself. Good, that might buy them some time. "Tell the gunners to shoot back if they can. If not, tell them to help out who they can and find a way we can leave the ship. I'll send who I can to help."
"Aye, Sir."
Varmos ended the call and pointed at Daxter. "Take a look around and see if you can find us a safe way off. Hopefully, the gunners can buy us enough time for the Army to get to us."
"Aye, Sir."
It was a feeble hope, Varmos knew, but it was the only one they had.
He checked the engineering repeater display. The screen was damaged but he could still see enough. Audacity's body may have been broken but she still had teeth and her heart was still beating. He couldn't help but feel a sense of overwhelming pride in his ship, which made losing her that much more of a tragedy. He only hoped that the Army got there before he had to bring himself and his crew all the way down with her.
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Sahna pushed her thrusters to their maximum, falling on four jets of intense white fire. Warnings flashed at her as her heat rapidly climbed. She ignored them. After all, the alternative was smashing into the ground, and she was still recovering from her last injury. Besides, she was tired of crashing into celestial bodies.
She skimmed past a rise in the terrain and then skidded along the ground before she cut her thrusters and broke into a run. She nearly stumbled, but managed to herself upright with her control thrusters until she finally came to a stop.
Around her, her teammates were conducting their own landings. Dirk, who's machine was off balance due to the lack of an arm, ended up falling and tumbling along the ground before coming to rest. Hypori ran out of propellant shortly before hitting the ground, causing her to fall flat on her face when her feet touched the ground and grind along the surface until she stopped.
"Not my best landing," she grumbled as she got up. The skid had ground away some of the paint on the front of her Zaku.
"Same would have probably happened to me if I hadn't landed on that slope," Sahna said.
Callie and Marie landed a short distance away, more gracefully than the rest of them had managed.
"Really, Marie? You kept the cannon?"
Callie's sibling-like admonishment was met with Marie's typical, matter-of-fact tone.
"I still have ammo for it, and I like this gun. Besides, my suit is old but it's lighter."
Marie turned and looked directly at the three rookies. "Status?"
"Running on empty, Ma'am," Hypori replied. "I'm down to my last mag. I've still got a grenade left."
"Engines are slagged," Sahna reported. "Not that I really have any propellant left. Also down to my last mag."
"Same," Dirk replied. "Also, arm gone."
"Really?" Marie asked. "Which arm have you lost?"
Sahna smirked. Marie didn't joke very much but Sahna wondered how much she actually restrained herself in order to maintain her officer persona.
"Alright, there were a few last-second lifeboat launches from the ship as it fell. They landed nearby so we'll check on those first. Keep your eyes peeled and follow me."
They started to walk but the suits moved somewhat awkwardly in the low gravity until they adjusted.
"Any idea exactly where we are?" Hypori asked.
"Dead ground," Dirk replied. "Too little cover, nobody bothers to hold or defend. Not worth defensive positions."
Sahna frowned. "So, we're right smack on the front lines?"
"Between ours and the enemy's," Marie clarified. "Like he said, there are no strong defensive positions here so both sides stay in better defensive positions further away until they decide they want to attack, but there are probably patrols we'll have to watch for."
"Mostly buggies," Dirk said. "On foot too slow."
Sahna thought for a moment. "Any chance we could contact someone over there?"
"Yeah," Hypori agreed. "So that they know there are at least five friendly Zakus on Scylla."
"We'll check on the lifeboats, first," Marie told them. "The Army will have spotted them too and sent out a patrol to investigate."
"If we don't scare 'em away."
"We won't be there long."
As they began their march across the moon towards the lifeboats' position, Hypori asked, "Lieutenant, how did you know one of the aces we were fighting was a him?"
There was a pause and Sahna became curious herself. In the moment she hadn't had time to think about it but she too wondered what indicators Marie had seen to draw that conclusion. As far as she knew, octoling males didn't serve in the Octarian military in combat roles.
"The fancy paint was one," Marie replied. "Also the behaviour of the three and how they acted together. You could tell the other two were acting as bodyguards and their machines were clearly intended for that role too. That commander Zaku is obviously fast enough to escape anything and the other two manoeuvrable enough to block attacks. It all just fit so well I figured it had to be a takevir and his kaaslan."
Sahna frowned. She knew takevir was the Octese word for an octoling male, but what was a kaaslan? She asked and Callie answered.
"Um, think of them as like bodyguard brides. Takevir of status usually meet potential kaaslan when they're kids and they're usually girls about the same age who will never be able to lay eggs. They get married around the time they're teenagers and that's when they officially become his kaaslan, protecting him and… uh, taking care of him."
"You're joking." Hypori sounded appalled. "Even in the military?"
"One of many reasons the Octarians don't like takevir joining the military. And they aren't allowed to at all unless they have kaaslan to protect and look after them. And since it's usually takevir of status have kaaslan, they're usually from old families, which means heraldry, like fancy paint jobs on their mobile suits."
"Save the Social Studies lesson for later," Marie cut in. "I have a visual on two lifeboats."
They lifeboats just over two kilometres from where their team had landed, one of them noticeably scarred. Possibly damage from when it had still been aboard the ship.
"I hope that's you coming our way, Red Team," a voice said.
"It is, Sir. Good to hear from you Commander Glazkin."
"Not as good as it is for us to hear you, Lieutenant, but what the hell are you doing here?"
"Plans went slightly awry, Sir. We ended up taking the ship's way of escape. We were going to go check the crash site for survivors after we checked in with you."
"We're fine," he said. His tone reminded Sahna of an old inkyar arguing with his adult children about taking care of himself. "We're trying to contact any friendlies. We spotted an outpost about three clicks away, but we don't plan on stickin' around here."
"Understood, Sir. If you manage to contact them, could you let them know not to shoot us?"
"Do my best, but I don't know how trigger happy these people are."
"Hopefully not too trigger happy. Good luck, Sir."
"Same to you."
Marie took them towards the huge cloud of dust that had been kicked up by the carrier's impact. Sahna wished she had more time to take in the landscape. This was her first time seeing Scylla's surface up close. The photos she'd seen didn't do it justice.
The ground was light-grey and firm with patches of orange here and there, with stone occasionally poking up through the ground, but that was just the natural terrain.
The ground around them was littered with signs of battle. She could see bits of mobile suits strewn everywhere, along with the hulks of armoured vehicles – or pieces of them anyway.
"Looks like they had quite the party here," Hypori remarked without humour. "Guess the ship won't stand out as much as we thought."
"I wouldn't bet on it," Marie argued. "The enemy is bound to send someone to investigate the crash site and they probably had more of a heads up than our own people did."
"Think we're in for a fight?"
It was several heart cycles before Marie responded and when she did she spoke in a tone that brokered no compromise.
"If there are people on that ship still alive, we're getting them out. If we have to break a few beaks to make that happen, that's what we'll do."
Hypori laughed at that. "Hope the Collective has a good dental plan."
"It's part of how the new government took over." Marie's humour seemed to come out most when sarcasm was involved. "I'm going to try and contact the ship. Everyone keep your eyes peeled."
They didn't find the ship right away, but they did find out where it had been. A deep rent in the ground had been left where the ship had crashed then bounced up again. From there, they were able to find the ship itself, or what was left of it.
Pieces of debris lay strewn all around it. Most of the ship's engines were gone, huge pieces of superstructure lay exposed or torn away, lying in mangled heaps around the ship like a dead animal's bones.
Sahna twitched as light erupted from the aft dorsal turret, aimed somewhere out of sight.
Marie addressed them. "Listen up, Red Team, here's the situation: Audacity is trying to evacuate and contact the Army but there are a whole lot of enemy mobile suits on the way. Despite Captain Varmos' objections, I've decided that we're going to stay here and defend the ship as long as we can."
Callie giggled. "Ooo, feeling rebellious, are we?"
"The Collective just broke our home. I want to let them know I am perturbed.
"I'm going to set up in a sniping position. Red Two, see if there's any ammo in the ship that survived. The rest of you keep together and use what cover you can. Watch out for flanking manoeuvres. It'll be harder for them on this sort of ground."
Marie split off from the rest of them and Callie took the lead. The ship's port side defence guns were opening fire at the approaching mobile suits.
They were predominantly Zaku Is. Sahna only saw one or two Zaku IIs and she suspected even they were early models like the A or D.
"Anything we need to watch for?" Hypori asked.
"Big bounders," Dirk said. "Big jumps, overcomes gun elevation of tanks. Faster using thrusters than walking. Usually in pairs."
Sahna watched as Audacity's gunners nailed one of the mobile suits as it tried to charge forward on its thrusters. The second one managed to get behind a ridge before the guns found it. They were getting closer and there were a lot of them. She saw a few take pot shots at the ship to try and hit the turrets but they weren't having much luck.
Sahna squinted at her primary screen, trying to pick out the disposition of the Octarian forces. "See any with bazookas?"
"Rare. Only used against bunkers. Need them for Navy more."
Sahna stared at the broken ship, the guns still firing defiantly from it, and then at the approaching mobile suits.
"I think a bunker's basically what we have here."
They got behind the ship without being fired at. Callie brought out her heat hawk and cut open a portion of the ship's inner hull. Sahna recognized the corridor that used to lead to the hangar airlock. The airlock was completely gone now, and judging but the surrounding damage, it had been destroyed by a hit from one of the cruisers.
Callie poked the head of her Zaku inside the rough hole she made then reached in with her hand and began piling large magazines on the ground for Marie's cannon. Sahna tried not to feel impatient with the enemy closing in around them, but if they didn't give a strong showing right off the start they wouldn't be able to force the enemy back.
"Hope there are spare mags for us too."
"Some, but a lot of them got crushed."
"Surprised the whole thing didn't explode."
Hypori chuckled. "There are advantages to being in a vacuum."
Callie placed one more magazine on the ground and ordered Hypori to take them to Marie. She then began handing out magazines for their machine guns. There were only a few that hadn't been smashed or warped.
Hypori returned quickly and began equipping what magazines remained. Each of them had only three, in addition to whatever remained in the magazine already in their guns. Sahna had barely a second's worth.
Situated in her position, Marie began giving further orders.
"Scar, Red Five, take the left side. Red Two and Tog, protect the bridge. There are still people in there."
Sahna moved towards the ship's aft section (or what remained of it) and knelt behind a large piece of the ship that had once been part of the engineering section. Hypori peeked through some structural members and remained standing.
A few mobile suits were making their way around to try and hit the aft particle cannon turret, using their thrusters to try and outpace it. The turret fired and kicked up a huge geyser of earth and rock that tripped up one of the mobile suits but the other two continued on. Sahna took the left one and Hypori took the right.
Sahna's first shots were almost dead on. They pinged off the left shoulder and tore the pauldron away. Her second burst destroyed the left hip and sent the machine sprawling.
Hypori was more accurate, firing a ten round burst that caught the Zaku in the lower torso. The machine seemed to fold forward before its thrusters died and it plowed head first into the ground then flipped onto its back. More were coming.
"This has to be a whole battalion," Hypori remarked as she fired at another pair of Zakus moving from cover to cover. "Think we maybe interrupted something?"
"Local defences tough. Even mobile suits need numbers."
Dirk had barely finished speaking when a number of large explosions tore up the ground just short of the ship.
"What the heck was that?" Hypori exclaimed. "Did they finally bring out the bazookas?"
"No." Marie's voice sounded weaker than usual, her normally unshakable confidence diminished. "We've got a new threat sitting just behind the opposite ridge."
Marie transmitted what she was seeing to them. Sahna increased the size of the window and her eyes went wide.
It resembled a mobile suit but the trademark Collective monoeye sensor was built into the upper torso with a four-direction track, and the head had been replaced with a turret fitted with a large cannon. Instead of legs, it stood on a trio of large wheels, and its right arm was a huge, multi-barrel cannon.
Dryly, Hypori said, "I say again, what the heck is that?"
"It's like they tried to make their own version of the Guntank," Sahna remarked. Another series of artillery-like explosions seemed to confirm the idea.
"They're kicking up dust to create a screen," Callie said. "Keep your heat hawks handy. Things are going to get tight."
Hypori grunted. "Why don't they just blow the ship up?"
"They might have orders to secure the crash sight instead." Marie paused then added, "got one of 'em. Incoming!"
The warning was barely out before a squad of Zakus emerged through the dust like lunar apparitions, and they fired on Sahna and Hypori's position. They fired back and knocked out two of the mobile suits before they got close. And there were more behind them.
"They're rushing!" Callie called. "Don't stay rooted. Be flexible but firm."
With her cover being rapidly eroded by gunfire, Sahna decided to take Callie's advice and jumped behind the ship while Hypori provided cover. Sahna then joined her and they knocked out another quartet of mobile suits, but more kept coming.
Out the corner of her eye, Sahna saw more explosions happen further behind them. Marie's mobile suit emerged through the dust, planted itself in a prone position, fired back, then she got up and moved again before her position was shelled. Sahna wondered how long she would be able to keep that up.
Another pair of enemies used their thrusters to lunge at her and Hypori. Sahna switched to a one-handed grip as she used her other hand to grab her heat-hawk. She fired into the chest of one of the approaching mobile suits. The one in the lead dodged to the side, but it was its companion she had been aiming for and it fell quickly.
The lead Zaku tossed its gun aside and raised its own heat hawk, ready to bring it down on her. Sahna brought up her own, but instead of raising it high to swing, she thrust straight out, slamming the pointed tip in through the chest of the Zaku. She watched the machine jerk once, an oddly life-like reflex, then the monoeye died.
Hypori dropped a few more coming at them and barely had time to switch magazines before she was set upon again. One managed to slice off her left arm with their heat hawk but Hypori fired point blank into their chest and took them out.
"You okay?"
"I'll live. Watch out!"
Sahna twisted out of the way of a stream of bullets. Hypori took out her would-be assailant but they were running out of space fast.
Near the bridge, Dirk and Callie were having problems of their own. Dirk was handicapped being unable to change his magazines easily with his one arm, and Callie was now wielding a heat hawk in both hands, slicing all comers, but taking several shots in return, her shredded pauldron hanging loosely from her shoulder.
Sahna just managed to blow the head off one Zaku when she saw Marie vanish in a violent storm of dust as explosions erupted around her. A lump rose in Sahna's throat until she saw the small sphere of an escape capsule arch lazily out of the smoke and land behind a small hill nearby.
"Red Leader is down," Sahna called, glad she didn't sound as frantic as she felt. She had no time to think anymore, she was running totally on instinct and reflex.
Another pair of Zakus got close, forcing themselves between her and Hypori. Sahna fired into them but her magazine ran dry. The Zaku staggered under the trio of impacts but managed to keep going, bringing down their heat hawk. Sahna barely got her arm out of the way, but the blade bisected her machine gun, forcing Sahna to drop it.
They attacked her again, swinging their blade horizontally. Sahna deflected it upwards and tried thrusting to counter, but her opponent jumped back.
Another Zaku got around her, gun aimed. Without thinking, Sahna threw her heat hawk. It somersaulted through the air but instead of burying itself in the enemy Zaku it hit handle first. Still, the force of the impact was enough to knock the machine back and stun the pilot.
Sahna charged it before it could recover. She ripped the machine gun from its grasp and used it to fire a quick burst into the cockpit area before turning around and just barely managing to catch her original opponent as they came at her.
The machine exploded, kicking up a huge cloud of dust and blocking her view of Hypori. All she could see was an enemy Zaku on top of the ship, carving into the defiant ventral turret with their heat hawk.
Another Zaku appeared around the smoke on her right. She turned, but the opposing machine suddenly broke, an explosion ripping open its chest before it skidded along the ground. The moonscape around them began to erupt. Sahna thought it was the Octarian's faux Guntanks firing on them until she saw a blob of blue on her sensors. The Lunar Army had arrived, and they had come in numbers.
A large formation of actual Guntanks fired from the ridge while standard tanks charged in amidst other armoured vehicles, firing as they went.
Sahna took advantage of the enemy's momentary distraction and hurried back to Hypori's side, firing her newly appropriated gun as she went, taking out several more enemy units.
Hypori had been forced onto her back, her gun pointed upwards but not actually at anything. The left side of her head had been torn open by shells and the chest had a fresh horizontal gash across it that had sliced through most of the armour.
"Red Five? Hypori?"
The Zaku's eye moved and focused on her. "I'm okay. Was just… close is all."
Sahna helped her up. "Come on, we gotta' help the Army create a break. This might be our only chance to evacuate the crew."
Hypori took in a breath so deep Sana actually heard it. "Okay, let's finish this."
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The Lunar Army coming over the ridge was one of the most beautiful things Varmos had ever seen. Their support artillery duelled with the enemy's and they worked with Red Team to drive the enemy mobile suit elements back.
Varmos went back to his seat and triggered the PA system throughout the whole ship, transmitting to everyone's suits. "Attention all crew, the Army's here. Abandon ship now!"
They all knew what that meant and nobody was going to dally around. That done, he walked to the engineering console, removed the special computer blade on his belt and put it in the slot. He paused when he noticed the remaining bridge crew were still there.
"Everyone, get out!"
As if wakened from a trance, they got up and began to move. Varmos then put in the passcode and acknowledged the final confirmation. A countdown appeared on the screen, estimating how long it would take for the reactors to go critical. Given how much damage the engineering section had taken, he considered the nine minutes it was showing him an optimistic guess.
He took one last look around the bridge to ensure everyone had left, then hurried after the rest of his crew.
Varmos had to rely on Daxter's verbal descriptions of the route to navigate from the bridge to the escape exit. Aft of the bridge, many of the corridors were twisted and warped. He caught up to a few of the port-side gunners on the way, relieved to see they had made it this far already, though they had several injured among them.
The way down to the ground was via a bent structural member, the titanium beam warped by the explosion of the starboard habitation section. Strewn on the ground were pieces of what had once been the hangar bays.
Several light vehicles with Army personnel waited just beyond them. They were loading up the crew and several captured ocotlings.
An Army captain approached him. "Captain, I'm… uh, Captain Herzer of the 22nd Armoured Battalion."
"Pleasantries later, Captain." Varmos pointed aft to two crew members making a long leap from the deck to the ground below. They landed clumsily, still not re-accustomed to gravity, but they got back up quickly and headed for the vehicles.
"Those are the last of my crew. We need to get out of here before the reactor blows."
Herzer gaped and then softly cursed before he began shouting orders, running back to his vehicles. Varmos was right behind him.
One of Red Team's Zakus staggered back under the impact of several shells, but it remained standing and returned fire. Several prisoner search parties abandoned their work and hurried back to their vehicles.
Varmos made sure he was the last of the crew to board their own vehicle. He'd barely secured himself before the driver spun the machine around and drove back towards the ridge, the vehicle bouncing and jostling as it went.
As they retreated, so did the rest of the Army. They fired parting shots at the enemy but focused on getting away from the stricken ship. Varmos could actually see red hot glows from the engineering section.
Red Team moved with them, making long strides and not wasting any time getting away.
The Army stopped behind a tall ridge and everyone started to take cover.
"What are we doing?" Varmos asked.
Herzer told him, "If that thing's blowing, then it'll shoot rocks up for kilometres. We have to wait here until all the debris passes us by. Yours isn't the first ship to blow up on this rock and it won't be the last."
Suddenly, the flash of a second sun illuminated the moonscape, casting long, sharp shadows. The ground trembled and Varmos found himself looking up the slope to the summit. A massive plume of dust and debris hurtled upwards, spreading out in clouds that followed large chunks of rock and moon.
Minutes passed and gradually, large chunks began landing beyond the shelter of their rock formation, pieces of metal and moon creating fresh craters.
Varmos rose and climbed to the summit of the ridge and looked where his ship had been. All the dust had been blown clear. He could see the rim of the new crater. He could see nothing left of his ship.
Other members of the crew joined him on the summit. Even Red Team walked their mobile suits close enough to see over the top.
Now that the crisis seemed over and his adrenaline started to ebb, emotion began to replace it. Emotion about what he had just been through, what he'd nearly lost, and the brave crew members who had died joining him on their suicidal charge to distract the enemy long enough for the majority of the people aboard to escape. And then there was the ship that had stood with them and done more than anyone had ever expected of her.
Varmos brought his hand up in salute. "Farewell, Audacity. You may have looked like a made over freighter, but you had the heart and soul of a battleship. You will be missed."
The rest of the crew joined him, saluting the loss of the beloved ship they barely got to know. Even the mobile suits saluted.
After a moment's pause, Varmos let his arm fall. "Alright people, let's get down from here before a rock hits us and the Army thinks we're crazy."
Clutchguard chuckled. "All due respect, Sir, after what we just did, I don't think we could argue we aren't."
Varmos smiled and wondered if that might help in pleading insanity to avoid his court martial.
Author's Notes:
This was a long chapter. I hope the little lore dump in this chapter explained a few things that might have otherwise been passed up.
This chapter took a long time to write but I'm glad it turned out so well. Writing a spaceship crashing onto a moon without turning into a pancake was tough and I had to summon all my Kerbal Space Program knowledge to try and do it, but I also tried to have a bit of fun with it.
Before I wrote most of this story, I wanted Audacity to crash on the moon and for Red Team to battle it out amidst the wreckage. Most of the story was working towards this scene and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The fight was pretty desperate. Good thing the Lunar Army was there to save them. That last battle was so chaotic it was hard to write. Hopefully, everything makes sense.
So, only one chapter to go after this. I don't know when the sequel will come out; I know a lot of you have been wondering where Hachiko is, but don't worry, I haven't forgotten about her.